Good day for Scotland new boys
By Michael Wise
Last Updated: 01/01/70 1:00am
Debutants John Beattie and Rob Dewey both scored as Scotland beat Romania 48-6.
Scotland new boys John Beattie and Rob Dewey had international debuts to remember against Romania, the pair both scoring tries as the hosts scored a 48-6 victory at Murrayfield.
The home side ran in seven tries in total, with Phil Godman also marking his first start with a try, the Edinburgh fly-half also achieving a 75 percent success rate with the boot.
On a day of firsts, James Hamilton also had a significant role to play: the Leicester lock becoming the 1,000th player to earn a Scotland cap when making his appearance as a substitute in the 54th minute.
However, delight at Scotland's fourth successive home victory will be tempered, both by the sight of captain Jason White being stretchered off just before half-time with a knee injury, and the truth that victory was scored against opponents whose significant pack advantage belied a lack of attacking wherewithal.
The pattern of the game soon emerged, with Scotland hoping to give themselves plenty of width in the hope of avoiding contact with Romania's formidable-looking forwards.
But the less than formidable-looking Murrayfield crowd still had to wait a full 15 minutes for the opening try, White charging forward before laying off to Beattie.
The Glasgow number eight then dodged the tackle of 6ft 6in full-back Florin Vlaicu before touching down, with Godman successfully converting.
The new boy's enthusiasm then got the better of him five minutes later, Beattie giving away a penalty for handling on the ground, with Vlaicu successfully converting.
There then followed a fantastic solo effort from Hugo Southwell, the full back showing great pace to break before chipping the ball past Vlaicu, his momentum sliding him - just about - over the line.
Godman pulled the conversion left, but atoned five minutes later with a simple penalty opportunity dispatched between the posts.
The half-hour mark finally saw the first Romanian attempt to threaten the opposing three-quarter line, but a move that looked likely to break down anyway due to its proponents' lack of pace was actually halted when the ball was knocked on.
Southwell scored his second try after 35 minutes, a break from the scrum by Mike Blair being progressed by both the speedy number 15, Beattie and Kelly Brown, before the full-back dived over in the right-hand corner.
White suffered an injury to his right knee two minutes before half time and, with the captain being stretchered off, a Romanian maul crossed the line. However, a double movement saw their best chance disallowed.
Scotland immediately applied pressure at the re-start, with substitute David Callam almost scoring on his own debut.
But it was Dewey (pictured) who followed Beattie's lead when, following an inside - and suspiciously forward-looking - pass from Godman, Simon Webster broke forward before the powerful centre evaded a tackle to touch down.
Godman converted, with Vlaicu kicking his second penalty of the afternoon five minutes later.
The game looked to be running out of steam on the hour but, after an inside pass from Blair to Beattie, the latter repeated the move to allow Godman through to score, the fly-half also converting.
With Blair making way for Chris Cusiter, the scrum-half immediately had an impact by drawing in opposing number Valentin Calafeteanu, before releasing for Dougie Hall to burst through and score his first Scotland try.
Finally it was Cusiter's turn to appear on the scoresheet, the Edinburgh player finishing off a break initiated by Marcus Di Rollo, the number of running options available to the Scots indicating how frayed the Romanian defence was looking in the closing stages.
